Improved carpet-stretcher



` UNITED STATES l PATENT Orifice.

`EMERSON WOOD, OF MONSON, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPRQVED of.aPET"-sTRETm-lIsa Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. SGJS?, dated August l2, 1862i" T0 @ZZ whom it may concern;-

Be it known that I, EMERSON VooD, of Monson, in the county of`Hampden and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and Improved Device for Stretching Carpets; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specication, in which-- Figure I is a side view of my invention. Fig. 2 is a plan or top view of the same. Figs. 3 and 4 are detached views of portions of the extension-shaft, one of which, Fig. 4, is a sectional view taken in the line m w, Fig. 2.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several ligures.

The object of this invention is to obtain a simple and efficient device for stretching carpets preparatory to tacking or securing them to the floor; one that may be operated with the greatest facility and still be capable of stretching perfectly heavy carpets, such as Brussels, three-ply Wilton, 85o., which cannot be stretched and laid evenly or smoothly by the ordinary hand implements hitherto used.

The invention consists in having two adj ustable jointed arms provided with spurs and attached to a horizontal extension-shaft, which is fitted in a suitable frame and operated by a rack andtoothed seg ment, all arranged to effect the desired end, as hereinafter fully shown and described. l y

To enable those skilled in the art to fully understand and construct myinvention I will proceed to describe it. f n

A represents a frame constructed of two parallel bars, a a, connected by crossties b b, and having an upright, o, attached to each bar a and secured by a brace, d.

B is a horizontal shaft, the bearings of which are in the uprights c o, and this shaft extends entirely through one of the uprights c and has a lever, C, attached to it. y

On the shaft B there is placed a guard or toothed segment, D, which gears into a rack,

E, secured to the upper surface of ahorizontal bar, F, which is fitted in recesses in the crossties b of the frame A, and has metal or other plates d projecting over its edges to retain it properly in the recesses. The bar F is allowed to slide freely hack and forth inthe recesses of the cross-tirs b b by turning the shaft B,

.motion being communicated therefrom to the bar F by means of the toothed segment D and rack E.

To the front or outer end of the barF there i position in line with each other and at right angles with'the bar F, or secured in au oblique position relatively therewith, as shown in red in Fig. 2, the slide or collar being held in the bar by a rim, ax. Thebar F is formed of two or more parts connected by joints formed of metal clasps or ferrules g, permanently secured on one end of each piece of the bar and projecting sufliciently beyond the pieces to form sockets to receive the ends of the adjoining pieces through which and the sockets vertical pins h pass. (See Fig. 4.)

To one side of the frame A there is attached a segment-plate, b', in which holes c are made,

in any of which a pin, dx, is placed to hold the l lever C at any desired point. v

The'device is used as follows: The carpet is laid upon the floor and tacked thereto at one side of the room, and the device is then placed Withthe back end of the frame A against the base-board, where the carpet is tacked. rIhe bar F is then made of the proper length by adding pieces to it or taking some away from it, and the bar is moved back a suitable distance to catch into the end of the carpet and then shoved forward by turning the shaft B, the spurs f catching into the carpet. When the carpet is stretched to the base-board at the side of the room opposite to that where the carpet was first tacked, it is tacked to the iloor, the device then shifted laterally and an adjoining piece'or breadthstretched, and so on until the carpet is tacked to the floor all along the ,edge where the stretching commenced. The two opposite edges are then stretched and tacked to the Hoor in the same way.

By this device the carpet, however heavy,

may be stretched and tacked to the floor so as to be perfectly smooth and even thereon, and

in cases where necessary the arms G G may be adjusted and secured in V form, or more or less angulariy with each other, in order to insure even stretching. The toothed segment and rack admit of the bar F being operated with the greatest facility, so that females may operate it Without any dificuity Whateven Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-` The bar F, fitted in the frame A and provided with the adj ustabletoothed or spurred arms G G, arranged substantially as shown, and operated through the'medinlnof the rack E and toothed seg`ment-D,in combnationwith the manner of adjusting the toothed or spurred arms G G--to Wit, by connecting them to the slide or collar H on the bar F by rods I I and securing the slide or collar on the bar by a pin, a", asdescribed.

, EMERSON WOOD.

Witnesses:

R. S. MUNN, BENJAMIN CHURCH. 

